We finally made the decision and upgraded our little 5hp outboard to a 15Hp Yamaha Enduro. Andre went accross to fetch it on the morning of Saturday 31st January. The trip across to Island Water World the chandlery takes about 30 mins and was bumpy and wet! With the engine too small to get the dinghy on the plane you smash through waves and wakes and swell instead of going over them. The trip back took all of 10 mins and that was on half power as we are running the engine in.
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| New Engine |
We are still waiting for parts for the wind generator but decided we were not sitting in the lagoon any longer. We had missed the morning but were determined to leave. We put the trampolines back in as they had been re-stitched and hoist the jib as it too had to be re-sewn.
By 13:30 we were ready and lifted anchor from Nettle Bay and motored round to the French Bridge to leave the lagoon.
The French bridge is quite a bit narrower and it was the first time we were attempting to use it. It had actually been out of order for more than a month! They were waiting for parts from France and the local joke was it was taking so long they thought they set it adrift in France and were waiting for the tides to bring it in!
14:30 the bridge opened and out we motored, we took a video, I just have to figure out how to get videos into the blog to post. I see using this app on my iPad it won't allow me. If anyone knows how send me a message. :)
Marigot Bay is well known for dinghy thefts and we did not want to anchor there with our new engine. I had not yet made a cover to disguise the fact she was brand new. We prefer not to tempt Murphy! So we sailed around to Grand Case.
We had anchored here before, a quaint little town with lots of restaurants and shops. Just before sundown we went ashore, yes dry and fast, we love the new engine and walked to the supermarket for bread and vegetables and then along the beach. Our favorite restaurant here is Cosmol Cafe and you sit on chairs on the beach with the waves lapping your feet. The other advantage is you can see the dinghy dock from there so we could keep an eye on it.
Sundowners of ice cold beer , Tapendes and Jalpeno Poppers as we watch the sun set, then back to the boat!
It's a good secure anchorage with good holding so a quiet night was had by all.
The next morning we decided to try to get to Orient Bay and set off around the island. The wind was gusting probably 25 knots with a short swell at about two and a half meters, it was bumpy and smashy so we turned into Anse Marcel. This pretty bay is well indented and has a lovely beach, two major hotels and a Marina belonging to the Raadisson Hotel. The holding is not good due to sea grass and wind and current pushing in different directions, but the second time we dropped anchor we dug in and were happy as we could be.
As the day came to an end, the huge yellow day charter catamaran "Winners Touch" tied on to his mooring buoy in front of us and deposited his 50 - 70 guests back on shore. She is huge; about 70 foot long and 40 foot wide, probably weighing in excess of 20 tonnes. Just inshore of us her sister ship "Scoobie Too" tied on to her buoy. Behind and inshore of us a French couple on their Lagoon Catamaran.
The anchorage is rolly and has a tendency to have all the boats facing in different directions as they twist and turn around their anchors or moorings instead of all facing into wind as it would usually be!
We had showered and I was just doing the last of dinner when I heard Andre exclaim! When I asked what he replied 'a catamaran is sailing past very close' I went out to see and only about 5 meters from us sailing between us and Scoobie Too and then past the Lagoon the huge yellow catamaran was moving with speed. She has broken off her mooring and the wind and tide was taking her at speed into the wall of rocks on the western side of the bay only about 100 meters away.
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| Smaller sister ship to Winners choice |
I called an emergency on channel 16 of the radio and Andre dropped the dinghy in the water. We both jumped aboard at at this stage she was maybe 2 meters from the rocks. We managed to get a line onto her bow cleat and tried to pull her to turn her from the rocks. Our little dinghy motor was stronger but not strong enough to pull a 20 tonne boat! No one else seemed to have noticed and I was shouting for help! Then we heard her hit the rocks and could hear her bottom scraping on them. There was nothing we could do alone and we were in danger of being pulled under her as she bounced so we dropped our line and went over to the French Catamaran. They had just dropped their dinghy and were about to come and help. We explained she was already on the rocks and could they call on the radio as when I had called in a huge hurry the frenchies were saying they could not understand me! We asked them to keep calling for help.
We then raced into the Marina and ran to the nearest restaurant, in pajamas and asked for the manager or someone who spoke English! We are on the French side and most of the French will not attempt to understand you or speak any English!
We told them the story and they said they would call the owner!
As we returned to our boat the dinghies started coming out. Finally someone was brought out that had the keys to her and could unlock so they could get to start the engines. They backed her off the rocks and she was holed. We watched them make a temporary cover for the hole and pump out the water then they anchored out deeper in the bay and spent the night aboard on duty.
Needless to say we also slept with one eye open! Well Andre did.
Why do we say our angels were on duty? If she had turned differently she could have hit us on the way past and that weight and size could have done major damage. Even worse if she had caught us or the Lagoon between her two hulls when she turned she would have dragged us onto the rocks with her. With the push and her weight any boat between her and the rocks would have been squashed like a fender!
Thank you Lord for keeping us safe!
